Case Study Proposal: British Airways' Competitive Advantage Analysis

This case study proposal examines the competitive challenges faced by British Airways in the airline industry. It begins with an introduction, providing an overview of the organization, a problem statement, and a case brief. The proposal outlines a literature review covering competitive advantage strategies, strategic management, and human resources management, drawing on various academic sources. The study aims to evaluate British Airways' competitive strategies, identify industry issues, assess employee service roles, and recommend strategies for improved competitiveness. The proposal includes a proposed plan of analysis, data sources, a project plan, and a discussion of potential problems. The study focuses on key areas such as competitive advantage, strategic management, and human resource management to understand how British Airways can enhance its market position relative to competitors like EasyJet.

Case study proposal
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
AN OVERVIEW OF THE ORGANIZATION...............................................................................2
PROBLEM STATEMENT..............................................................................................................2
CASE BRIEF...................................................................................................................................2
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................3
Competitive advantage strategies................................................................................................3
Strategic management..................................................................................................................4
Human resources management....................................................................................................4
PROPOSED PLAN OF ANALYSIS...............................................................................................5
DATA SOURCES...........................................................................................................................6
PROJECT PLAN AND TIMESCALE............................................................................................6
FORESEEN PROBLEMS...............................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
When a business organization perform its operations at market area then it is necessary for
them to attain competitive advantage. There are many factors which helps an enterprise in
achieving the competitiveness when they start performing their business at global level.
Sometimes, success of firm is highly depending upon the first mover advantage which can be
gained on the basis of location where they establish their business and quality & innovation in
their services (Sirmon and et. al., 2011). In the current field of study, the overall analysis has
been carried out on British Airways which offer airline services to their customers.
The current issue which is identified by the company is competitive advantage which get
affected on the basis of passenger that they carried. This issue has been arising because of the
services which are offered by the employees as compare to other companies like EasyJet. Now in
current field of study, researcher will be focused on the many other factors which influence the
competitive advantage of airline industry (McWilliams and Siegel, 2011).
Aim: To study different aspects or factors due to which British Airways will not be able
to achieve competitiveness.
Research objectives: Some objectives are there which explained below that will help the
researcher in order to accomplish above stated aim. These are as follows:
 To evaluate competitive advantage strategies which are adopted by British airways at
their marketplace.
 To identify the issues or factors which are faced by airline industry in their strategic
management approach.
 To assess the role of services which are offered by employees to their customers in
British Airways.
 To recommend some strategies and approaches to British Airways so that they will be
able to gain success as compare to other industries.
Research questions: In order to attain above stated objectives, researcher need to formulate
some questions and these are explained below:
Q1. What are the different competitive advantage strategies which are adopted by British
Airways in order to attain competitive advantage?
Q2. What are the issues which are faced by airline industry in order to perform strategic
management?
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Q3. What kind of services are offered by employees to their passengers?
Q4. What approaches can be adopted by British Airways in order to sustain competitive
advantage as compare to their rivals?
AN OVERVIEW OF THE ORGANIZATION
British Airways is one of the leading airline industry which perform their operations in
United Kingdom. The firm is based on a concept that they bring people together and take them
away wherever they want to go. This perform their operations at global level and they also have
some partners like American airlines (Kumar and et. al., 2011). They have approx. 268
destinations in 97 countries and along with this they transport approx. 36 million people to their
destination. This industry was get established in 1974 by the British government and it was
created after merging British European Airways and British Oversees Airways Corporation.
There are many issues which are faced by airline industries in today’s world and these are
like fuel, overcapacity, low cost carriers and labour unrest. There are some specific challenges
which are faced by British Airways such as working conditions are get changed, financial
position get affected, less passenger as compare to EasyJet and so on. Due to these, the firm will
not be able to achieve competitive advantage in an effective or efficient manner.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
If any organization settled down their business operations in market area, then they have to
focus on some aspects like innovation, creativity, quality, customer’s needs, human resources
and so on. After adopting these, they will be able to attain success and through this their
profitability level can also be increased to some extent (Campbell, Coff and Kryscynski, 2012).
British airways a leading firm in UK on the basis of their Fleet size but it is second largest on the
basis of passengers. So, due to this main reason the company was unable to achieve
competitiveness as compare to EasyJet. Therefore, the current study is conducted in order to
identify the issues which affect the competitive advantage of British Airways.
CASE BRIEF
The case is explained on the basis of issue which is faced by British airways at the time of
performing their operations.
In the present era, airline industries perform their operations in well manner so their overall
revenues are get increased to £200 million and give 28 million jobs to people in throughout the
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world. As compare to past data, now passengers of airline industry are growing rapidly. The
current organization is the one who carriers more international customers but not more than
EasyJet. The firm is more focused on customer satisfaction and this can be maintained by
providing the quality services to them. Sometimes, their quality standards are get influenced due
to some complicated process, complication in existing data base and fuel. So, through this the
dissatisfaction is get enhanced among people who travel via British Airways. It is the leading
firm in UK so its market shares are good as compare to its competitors in all over the world. The
airline industry has conducted some programs like “Customer First” so that their perceptions can
be changed regarding to their services and they will be able to achieve competitiveness. It has
been also analysed that historic cost is get decreased in radical manner and finance is also raised
to some extent at the time of crisis. So, in such cases the overall competitiveness of British
Airways is get influenced and they will not be able to perform well as compare to EasyJet.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The present section of research represents aspects which are drawn by different writers. In
this, it is more focused on the secondary sources like articles, blogs, journals and so on. Through
these, it can be analysed that how a particular issue can affect the performance of organization
and due to which they will not be able to sustain competitive advantage.
Competitive advantage strategies
According to the views of Barney, (2012) competitive advantage is a kind of attribute
which can help the organization in order to perform well as compare to other industries. On the
basis of these, a competition can be better which can highly affect the perceptions of customers
that they have regarding to the services of respective firm. If an enterprise will generate high
profits or revenues as compare to their rivals in this, they will be able to achieve competitiveness.
Along with this, there are three dimensions or aspects on the basis of which overall success of a
company can be determined in an effective manner. It has been analysed by Reeves, M. and
Deimler (2011) that these dimensions are like benefit, target market and competition. Higher
authority of firm knows about the benefits which are provided by the particular services and
those should be offered to the customers due to which they will be able to get some real value.
The industry should know about their target audience that to whom they are buying their
services. For this, firstly they should conduct a survey in order to identify the need of their
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customers so that their satisfaction level can be increased. Competition will occur among the
companies who are same services to their customers so it is necessary for an entity to focused on
the quality or innovative services.
Wagner and Hollenbeck (2014) stated that there are three type of strategies which can be
used by organizations in order to maintain their competitive level. Some of these strategies are
like cost, differentiation and focus. These are developed by Michael Porter. In the first cost
strategy, an enterprise has to focus on their cost that it should be low and when they will be able
to achieve cost leadership then more passengers will be attracted. In differentiation, manager of
British Airways has to innovate their services and make their unique so that people find it
attractive and they will be able to maintain their social class. At the last, companies can use focus
which is the combination of both cost and differentiation. Through this, a particular price can be
set for the particular targeted group.
Strategic management
As per the views of Gebauer, Gustafsson and Witell (2011) strategic management is used
to analyse, monitor and perform planning which is essential for the organization in order to attain
their specified goals. In this, higher authorities need to make some effective decisions in order to
perform their operations effectively. Some strength and weaknesses are identified of companies
internal practices and after that every plan should be executed. This kind of technique provide an
appropriate direction to the firm that how they have to perform their operations or in what
manner they need to achieve objectives. Some policies and procedures should be followed by the
firm and along with this, resources should be utilised in an appropriate manner so that success
can be achieved. Apart from this, it has been analysed by Kirchmer (2012) that strategic
management is a kind of practice that is used by an organization in order to evaluate the internal
and external factors which may affect their performance. When an industry establishes its
operations at international level then there are some global factors which can influence their
performance in negative manner. There are various advantages or benefits which are associated
with this approach like through this strategy can be implemented within the specific criteria. This
play a very important role in achieving the success at marketplace as compare to other rivals.
Human resources management
Chang (2011) stated that employees are one of the important asset of business organization
as they are responsible for providing the quality services to their customers. For this, an
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enterprise has to be more focused on the management of human resources so that overall work
can be performed effectively. There are various aspects on which a HR manager should be
focused like motivation, performance, rewards, training, development, encouragement and so on.
When staff members will get rewards and recognitions then due this their overall motivation can
be enhanced. When this level will get increased then overall productivity enhance and this may
lead them towards success. It has been criticised by Zhang, Shen and Wu (2011) that some
training and development practices are there which are conducted at the workplace for the
employees so that they will be able to enhance their skills and knowledge. When competencies
will be achieved then through this they can handle their passenger in an appropriate manner and
when they will get some quality services then through this their overall satisfaction can be
enhanced.
PROPOSED PLAN OF ANALYSIS
The analysis can be conducted and for this an appropriate plan have to form so that
identified issue can be analysed which is faced by British Airways. The challenges which are
faced by an enterprise should be overcome and this is a joint effort which is put by all the
members who are working at the workplace. The present study will be focused on some specific
areas which are more appropriate for the airline industry and these play an important role in
achieving the success for the current analysis (Du, Bhattacharya and Sen, 2011). For the current
study the analysis will be conducted on areas like competitive advantage, strategic management
and human resource management. If all these practices will perform in an effective way, then the
issue can be resolved which is faced by selected organization.
In the first, company perform their strategic management approach so that they will be able
to identify the factors which can affect their performance in negative manner. By using such kind
of activities, an enterprise will be able to implement their strategies effectively. For this, some
strategies are used by researcher like five force analysis and SWOT analysis (What Is
Competitive Advantage? 3 Strategies That Work, 2017).
In the another part of analysis, some strategies are used by organization in order to attain
competitive advantage. These should be selected by firm as per the requirement or appropriate
for the issue which is identified in the above stated case (Snyder, 2012). For this, some porter
generic strategies are used by an investigator so that an enterprise will be able to attain
competitiveness.
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At the last, analysis will be carried out on the basis of human resource management
approaches as by using these overall employees will be able to attend their clients in an
appropriate manner. For this, McKinsey’s 7’S framework, strategic human resource planning,
HRM model will be used by researcher so that overall behaviour of employees can be evaluated
along with their performance.
DATA SOURCES
The data should be collected from some authenticate sources so that some fruitful outcome
will be achieved and number of research objectives which are specified can be accomplished
(Bazeley, 2012). The overall analysis will be carried out on the basis of qualitative type of
investigation. Some data sources are explained which are stated below:
Data collection: For the current research project, secondary data will be taken into account
where a case study has been analysed. Through this, overall issues and challenges which are
faced by company can be reflected (Geerts, 2011). The relevant information will be collected on
the basis some books, articles, journals, and so on.
Data analysis: In the present study, qualitative analysis has been used by investigator where
analysis has been done on the basis of some models which are related to subject (Heinzel and
Koch, 2012). By following this, results can be achieved in the form of themes so that effective
outcome can be achieved.
Reliability and validity: The reliability of the data can be ensured after getting the results of
every analysis. Along with this, information can be gathered from various different authenticate
sources which help the researcher in order to maintain validity of the results.
Ethical issues: The ethical practices can be used by researcher so that functioning can be
smooth and research will be conducted in desired manner (Smith, 2015). In the field of study,
data will be collected from the opinion of different authors so access is given to those writers. In
order to maintain the ethical considerations, researcher debrief regarding this to other people who
are associated with the current analysis.
PROJECT PLAN AND TIMESCALE
The project can be planned on the basis of several aspects or tasks which are required in
order to complete the study. This will represent number of activities and scheduling as this will
help them in achieving their specified objectives. This project plan plays an essential role in the
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overall study as through this, the costs, resources, scope, time can be analysed. On the basis of
these, overall field of study can be conducted in an effective manner.
The timescale of different activities can be represented in the form of Gantt chart as this is
the more appropriate plan which will help the researcher in achieving the targets. In this, start
time and finish time of every task is mentioned that help them in performing better. Through this
kind of plan, all activities will get accomplished in given deadline so that they will be able to
attain success in particular analysis.
FORESEEN PROBLEMS
Some problems will be faced by researcher at the time of conducting the actual research and
du to these final results will get hampered. The investigator has to forecast these issues so that
analysis can be carried in an effective way. Some of these problems are like:
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 The analysis is conducted on the basis of some models so this may affect the actual result
which will be achieved from the study.
 The information will be gathered from secondary resources so an accuracy may not have
achieved in the current analysis.
 Sometimes, biasness can also affect the final results and this can also be a limitation for
the study.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Barney, J.B., 2012. Purchasing, supply chain management and sustained competitive advantage:
The relevance of resource‐based theory. Journal of supply chain management. 48(2).
pp.3-6.
Bazeley, P., 2012. Integrative analysis strategies for mixed data sources. American Behavioral
Scientist. 56(6). pp.814-828.
Campbell, B.A., Coff, R. and Kryscynski, D., 2012. Rethinking sustained competitive advantage
from human capital. Academy of Management Review. 37(3). pp.376-395.
Chang, C.H., 2011. The influence of corporate environmental ethics on competitive advantage:
the mediation role of green innovation. Journal of Business Ethics. 104(3). pp.361-
370.
Du, S., Bhattacharya, C.B. and Sen, S., 2011. Corporate social responsibility and competitive
advantage: Overcoming the trust barrier. Management Science. 57(9). pp.1528-1545.
Gebauer, H., Gustafsson, A. and Witell, L., 2011. Competitive advantage through service
differentiation by manufacturing companies. Journal of business research. 64(12).
pp.1270-1280.
Geerts, G.L., 2011. A design science research methodology and its application to accounting
information systems research. International Journal of Accounting Information
Systems. 12(2). pp.142-151.
Heinzel, J. and Koch, B., 2012. Investigating multiple data sources for tree species classification
in temperate forest and use for single tree delineation. International Journal of
Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation. 18. pp.101-110.
Kirchmer, M., 2012. Business process oriented implementation of standard software: how to
achieve competitive advantage efficiently and effectively. Springer Science &
Business Media.
Kumar, V. and et. al., 2011. Is market orientation a source of sustainable competitive advantage
or simply the cost of competing?. Journal of marketing. 75(1). pp.16-30.
McWilliams, A. and Siegel, D.S., 2011. Creating and capturing value: Strategic corporate social
responsibility, resource-based theory, and sustainable competitive advantage. Journal
of Management. 37(5). pp.1480-1495.
Reeves, M. and Deimler, M., 2011. Adaptability: The new competitive advantage (pp. 135-41).
Harvard Business Review.
Sirmon, D.G. and et. al., 2011. Resource orchestration to create competitive advantage: Breadth,
depth, and life cycle effects. Journal of Management. 37(5). pp.1390-1412.
Smith, J.A. ed., 2015. Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. Sage.
Snyder, C., 2012. A case study of a case study: Analysis of a robust qualitative research
methodology. The Qualitative Report. 17(13). p.1.
Wagner III, J.A. and Hollenbeck, J.R., 2014. Organizational behavior: Securing competitive
advantage. Routledge.
Zhang, X., Shen, L. and Wu, Y., 2011. Green strategy for gaining competitive advantage in
housing development: a China study. Journal of Cleaner Production. 19(2). pp.157-
167.
Online
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What Is Competitive Advantage? 3 Strategies That Work. 2017. [Online]. Avaialble through: <
https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-competitive-advantage-3-strategies-that-work-
3305828>. [Accessed on 21st September 2017].
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